Madison stayed.
She became a wonderful waitress.
She learned the customers’ names.
Remembered their favorite orders.
And eventually decided she wanted to study social work.
When I asked why, she smiled.
“Because I’ve watched you notice people.”
Chad changed too.
He started arriving before sunrise.
Wore a plain T-shirt and apron.
Learned to work the register.
And kept a notebook filled with customers’ names and little details about their lives.
Business improved.
The customers returned.
And eventually, Chad paid back the loan he’d taken from his father to buy the diner.
***
The following year marked my thirty-ninth anniversary at Gus’s.
When I arrived that morning, a chocolate cake waited on the counter.
Thirty-nine candles.
And a message written in crooked blue icing.
*Bev — 39 years — the heart of this place.*
The whole diner filled with familiar faces.
Dale and Joanne.
The Miller boys.
Mr. Haugen.
The farmers.
Pastor Jim.
